


On The Merits of the Physical

by ebsmith



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Altmer (Elder Scrolls), Don't worry, Elves, Gay Sex, How Do I Tag, I'll let y'all be the judge of that, Kinky, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism, Mannimarco is a weirdo, Necromancy, Possibly Out of Character, Rough Sex, Short, Spanking, Swans, Taxidermy, Telekinesis, Vanus tries to take it in stride, Vignette, i think, lol, no bestiality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:35:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27189433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebsmith/pseuds/ebsmith
Summary: Of course, his morbid friend would be interested in taxidermy.Another scene inspired by the Traitor’s Vault from ESO Summerset.
Relationships: Vanus Galerion/Mannimarco
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	On The Merits of the Physical

Formaldehyde and arsenic. Lavender and Sulphur. Lye and ammonia. Mannimarco always smelled like death. Though not the death Vanus was so familiar with in his youth. Not entirely anyway. The scent of rancid meat hung vague in the air, yet it was... cleaner. Somehow.

He frowns as he passes a pit sunk into the stone of this vast basement lab space. The space Mannimarco had claimed as his own even as Vanus himself had claimed the second floor of this ancient library, collectively known on Artaeum as "the vault”, for reasons he still couldn't get a clear answer on. An animal Vanus has never seen before lay within, covered in a fine white powder that made him sneeze when he got too close, its pebbly dark skin already partially dried out. Of course, his morbid friend would be interested in taxidermy of all things.

"The merits of the Physical have always been woefully neglected amongst the higher pursuits," Mannimarco had said once. "I wish to remedy this." Vanus had then made the mistake of snarking something about what could a stuffed trophy possibly teach them about the "merits of the physical," and Mannimarco had gotten this _light_ in his eyes. Then had proceeded to lecture him for the next 3 hours on how the "Art of Death” has contributed to the sciences, both magical and otherwise, complete with examples from his own extensive collection. Vanus had never been more disgusted yet fascinated in his life. A reoccurring theme when it came to Mannimarco.

"Ah Vanus! Come here."  
His mouth twitches in a smile. Mannimarco sounds happy to see him down here for once. It was no small annoyance on his part that his friend could come and go all he likes from his space, yet gave him the cold shoulder nearly every time he himself came to visit. Not that he came by so often. The sight of all these dead made him... uneasy. Even if they were only specimens, destined for the newly built Museum of Natural Curiosities held within the Royal Menagerie.

"What is it?"

"Look!"

Mannimarco tugs him toward a solid steel workbench in the middle of the room, where a large bird is clamped with its wings spread open as if in flight.

"I’ve done it Vanus! I’ve perfected the seamless mount!"

"Oh?" Vanus looks closer. Mannimarco had been testing this process for weeks now. A most difficult problem, he had been assured. Nearly every time they were together in fact. He shakes the thought away. "What am I looking at?"

"A Duskview swan from the Skywatch gardens." He tucks his arm around Vanus as he leans in to grip the flap of tattered skin pinned open over the frame. "As well as evidence of its demise. Normally damage to this extent would be impossible to work with."

Vanus carefully keeps his breathing even. Mannimarco was pressed full to his back now, one hand "casually" on his waist. He smirks to himself. So _that's_ why he is welcome down here today.

"Watch" Mannimarco whispers against his ear, unnecessarily. Vanus mostly suppresses his shiver.

Faint teal-blue pulses from the tips of his fingers and Vanus watches in amazement as the shredded edges slowly knit together before his eyes. "How?" he asks, his voice giving away his awe at the sight. Dead flesh couldn't heal! Everyone knew that!

"An ancient text on Kothrigi burial rites," murmured against his temple. Vanus shivers again. Today he smelled of grain solvent and cloves. He could almost say he'd grown to like it.

"No details of the exact procedures of course. That would have been far too accommodating of them. Though I clearly was able to extrapolate enough to forge my own process."

"Incredible!" Vanus twists around to face him. (He doesn’t miss the hitch of breath at that.) "Have you tried it on a living yet? Imagine what this could mean for late stage gangrene!"

Mannimarco blinks then in that way he had, that always reminded him of a startled rabbit, however absurd the thought, before grinning back. "Yes Vanus, you are right! Perhaps the Lillandril Teaching Infirmary has a few willing subjects."

Looking up at his strange friend, close enough for their noses to bump, Vanus only partially succeeds in suppressing an unreserved giggle as he notes the heat growing in those bright green eyes.

Mannimarco doesn’t even try for pretext this time, as he leans in and takes his mouth in a kiss.

"Mmmm," he slumps forward, leaning against the other as that tongue slips along the seam of his lips and that "innocuous" hand tightens at his waist. Laying his arms around those broad shoulders, Vanus welcomes it, having long since grown used to the seeming randomness of his friend's good humor.

Mannimarco had a reputation on Artaeum. For good or ill though, Vanus was still undecided on, even after being with him for over a year now, in every way imaginable.  
Iachesis, his mentor, had characteristically little to say on the subject, only saying that Mannimarco was a gifted speaker and summoner, and Vanus would do well to learn from him the finer points of what he called the "Way of Discretion.” However, perhaps Mannimarco’s shocking criticism of Iachesis had at least one point: Vanus doesn't think he's ever met anyone in his whole life less subtle than Mannimarco.

Mara's grief, considering how insistent the absurd mer had been in "courting" him and their (and his, ahem) first time in his own lab of all places, Vanus had all but expected a marriage proposal the morning after. Yet to his, well... not disappointment exactly, things went largely back to the same. Except for the bouts of amazing sex in the most ridiculous and inappropriate places. Places that Vanus had never imagined he would do such things in. That a few times he didn’t really want to, yet relented at Mannimarco’s forcefulness. That forcefulness that proceeded to melt every bone in his body once the other got his hands on him. In his more exasperated moments, Vanus doesn't know whether he wants to curse him or himself for how fucking good it all was.

Vanus startles from his haze when he is hoisted up onto the workbench, Mannimarco pushing between his legs, pulling up his skirts in the process, and running tough smooth hands up his bare thighs to dig his fingers into the cleft of his ass, Vanus’s habit of wearing his robes "open to the air" doing nothing to impede him in this. Indeed, Mannimarco seemed void-bent on taking pointed advantage of this little fact of his dressing habits nearly every time they were together. Whimpering only a little at the thought of all those other times, Vanus leans back on his hands, picks his knees up to wrap his calves around Mannimarco’s waist, and pulls him in.

Mannimarco lets out a satisfyingly startled moan at that and rewards Vanus with a nip to the tip of his tongue that makes his dick pulse, before pulling away from his mouth to drop sharp kisses down his exposed throat. Biting and suckling, laving his rough tongue against the dip in his collarbones and nosing his way under the laces of his robes. Vanus both loved and hated that mouth, and tried very hard to not think of where it might have been before meeting up with him this fine day, given his friend's disgusting penchant for eating _anything_ in the name of his work.  
(Though honestly, he still can’t think on "the Deathbell incident" without snickering to himself.)

Mannimarco huffs against his skin, no doubt thinking the aforementioned snickering is from him being ticklish. Vanus doesn’t correct him on this. Instead, he grabs that big head and pulls that nasty mouth back against his own before reaching down to tug at his belt.

Mannimarco grins against his lips before pulling away abruptly. Before Vanus can scowl at him in protest though, Mannimarco grabs his shoulders and _twists_ , pushing him sharply down and to the side, forcing Vanus's torso flat against the workbench with his bare ass half-exposed on the tabletop where he once sat.

Vanus puts up a fight on principle, attempting to get his trapped hands under him for some leverage, but a hard smack to his ass has him moaning and pressing himself down against the cold steel instead. A few more of those merciless hits and his eyes are tearing up now. He bucks back against the last hit and nearly screams from the shock of the cold on his dick as it slides free of his bunched up robes.

He hears the rustling of silk behind him and he pries his eyes open to watch- 

And immediately squeezes them shut again with a decidedly _unaroused_ groan as he meets the dead stare of that poor mounted swan. Leave it to Mannimarco and his "ministrations" to make him forget that was right next to them!

Mannimarco, of course, has zero issue with this. Those long, fine hands of his grip around his hips and yank him backwards- 

“Marco wai- aah!" 

This time he does scream as he feels a throbbing pulse-pressure inside him at the same time that wretched mouth presses full against his rim and starts licking him open for all he's worth.

"Mara’s favor" they called it, that small swell of a gland, common to all races of both sexes. A concession to the flesh, and answer to the pain of birth and death, the priests say, and currently the bane of his existence, as Mannimarco’s relentless mental stroking of it has him sobbing into his folded arms once again.

"I... I, Ahhhh Fuck!" Vanus howls as that relentless deep press (and that tongue) lets up for a split second of relief only to be replaced with the blunt head of Mannimarco’s dick. He pushes inside that slickened hole with a wrecked groan that has Vanus whining and bucking backwards once again, that stupid swan be dammed. 

'I'll get him back for that later,' Vanus vows to himself, before turning to face the other side of the desk (the side without any dead mounted birds on it,) and giving in to his urge to scream, curse, and praise the gods to Oblivion and back as Mannimarco fucks him senseless.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: In real life, the male prostate actually is, more or less, the same organ as the female g-spot.
> 
> On Manni’s nasty mouth: he’s also an alchemist and I got two words for you: [Giant's Toe](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Giant%27s_Toe) ;D


End file.
